Getting Started

By Situation: Where to Turn in a Project

Find a page by the situation in front of you, from deciding whether AI belongs in a task to submitting the work.

Start from what is in front of you, not from where the site files it.

Each row names a situation and the page that answers it, using the same page frontmatter the site offers an assistant connected to the Memex server. They are selected routes, not everything a reader might need: most setup guides for single tools are not listed. Getting Oriented maps the whole site by tab.

Choosing

You have just arrived and do not know where anything is.Getting Oriented You want the principles behind this approach before handing any task to AI.Core Principles of the Research Memex You are unsure whether AI belongs in this task at all.AI as Choice: A Framework for Conscious Engagement You have no clear picture of how you work with AI or where agents could fit.Research–AI Orientation, a role to give your AI

Setting up

You have not installed anything yet and do not know where to start.Quick Start Checklist You want practice papers and worksheets before working with your own sources.Student Vault: A Research Workspace You want to see what tools exist before picking one.Toolkit You want your research environment set up for you.Carrel: A Private Desk in the Library, Set Up by AI

Working

You know your prompt is vague and want to see a specific one.Cognitive Blueprints: Advanced Prompt Templates You are doing or teaching a literature review and want a worked example.Case Study: Systematic Reviews with AI You want to compare your own synthesis of the sources with an AI's.Session 3: Human vs. AI Synthesis — A Replication Experiment You want an agent to screen, extract or search the literature for your review.Building an SLR with Claude Code

Checking

You suspect the model, not your prompt, is why the output is generic.AI Model Discovery Protocol An AI output looks wrong and you cannot yet say how.The Failure Museum: A Guide to AI Limitations The AI output you just got feels generic, too smooth or too agreeable.Output Mirror, a role to give your AI You cannot find the paper an AI cited.Zotero MCP: Your Citation Library as an Agent Tool

Composing

You want your way of working with AI checked before you add to it.Arrangement Auditor, a role to give your AI You are designing a team of AI agents for a research task.Session 4: Advanced Agentic Workflows You want to see what a working setup with several AIs looks like.Agentic Research Workflows You are thinking of adding another AI, a memory layer or an approval step.Composing an Agentic Research System

Submitting

You are about to submit and are unsure what to disclose about AI use.Publishing Realities: Navigating AI in Academic Research

cite this page

Lin, X. (2026). By Situation: Where to Turn in a Project. Research Memex. https://research-memex.org/docs/introduction/by-situation

@misc{docs-introduction-by-situation-2026,
  author = {Xule Lin},
  title = {By Situation: Where to Turn in a Project},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://research-memex.org/docs/introduction/by-situation}},
  note = {ORCID: 0000-0001-7885-4194}
}

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